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The Presence of God!!

            We need the presence of God!! Sadly so much of the church does not dwell with the Lord, and many believers cannot recognize His presence. That is why Jesus came and died, so we could be with God! Since the time of Adam to the time of Moses the presence of God was absent from mankind.  From the time of Moses to the time of Pentecost, the presence of God was limited to the Holy of Holies in the temple.  Jesus then gave us access through faith to the father, tearing the curtain that separated us from the presence of God.  Now we can be in relationship with Him and experience his presence.  We are the temple that God now dwells, the Holy Spirit is inside of us!  No one since the time of Adam and Eve has anyone been so close to the father!

            Experiencing the presence of God is at the center of what it means to be a Christian.  The mark of a believer is that we have been reconciled to God and have access to him through the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5)!!! This is no small thing.  In Exodus the Israelites were afraid because they new that they would die if they came in contact with the raw presence of God.  This is because their sin would not allow them into the Holy presence of light and truth.  Moses was so overwhelmed with the presence of God that his face literally shown with His glory and he had to veil it for the sake of the people; but even Moses was not allowed to see the whole Glory of God for he would perish (Exodus 33:20-23).  But we experience God in an even greater measure, because of the access we have to the father we reflect even greater glory than Moses did, ever increasing glory.
                      
"But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes form the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)."

         Paul writes in Philippians 3 that he considers all lost for the sake of 'KNOWING' Christ.  In the Greek this knowing is not an intellectual knowing, it is actually an experiential knowing.  That one actually knows God through experience, not through thought! His grace and forgiveness, accepted through faith, brings us into an experience with God!  Because we are counted as Righteous in the eyes of God we have full confidence in accessing His presence .

"For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."
        
      It is God's desire that we Know Him and be with Him.  This is more important than anything else, more important than obedience or human relationships.  Moses desired the presence of the Lord so much that he refused to go the promise land unless God went with him (Exodus 33:14).  We need to be imbued with this same desire, that we cannot function unless we are filled and empowered by spending time with God.  So abide in Him and He will abide in you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Experience Him and rest in his presence! Be filled with His glory and shine for all the world to see!!

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